Africa-Press – South-Africa. Two men who were found guilty of murdering a British national and using a blowtorch to torture her husband, have been sentenced to an effective 37 years behind bars.
On Thursday, the Mpumalanga High Court in Breyten sentenced Meshak Nkosinathi Yika, 28, and his brother, Themba William Yika, 38, from Bergendal farm, near Belfast.
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Their co-accused, Lucas Makua, died after he was found guilty.
On 18 February 2017, the three men broke into a farmhouse in Dullstroom, where they found Susan Deborah Howarth, 64, and her husband Robert Lynn, 66, asleep in their bedroom.
Howarth was shot in the head and her husband was shot in the neck before he was dragged to the lounge, where the accused demanded money.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Monica Nyuswa said:
“They further burnt him with blowtorch several times on his body, [and] as a result, he gave them his bank card and the PIN…[in] the hope that they would leave him.”
Instead, the accused covered his face with a plastic bag and forced him and Howarth, who was still alive at that point, into their van. They later dumped the couple in a veld alongside a road.
Before the accused fled, Lynn was made to kneel and he was shot again.
During the trial, State advocate Eric Sihlangu led the evidence of a survivor.
The court also heard that days after the incident, the men withdrew money from the bank card and used it to buy items.
“Sihlangu also led evidence of a pointing out, identity parade and confessions made by the accused,” Nyuswa added.
“In aggravation of sentence, advocate Sihlangu submitted three victim impact statements – one complied by the surviving victim, it detailed how the incident of losing his loved one had impacted him and that his experience has left him traumatised.”
Judge Lineo Liphoto found the three men guilty.
The Yika brothers were sentenced to:
Themba was sentenced to a further five years imprisonment for possession of an unlicensed firearm and another five years for possession of ammunition.
The court ordered that some of the sentences run concurrently, meaning that both men have to serve an effective 37 years in prison.
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